Twelve River Rocks on the Bank
Joshua 4:1-9
Twelve River Rocks On the Bank
When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan from right where the priests stood and to carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.”
So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”
So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the LORD had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.
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he ancient church building was surrounded by the cemetery, as was the common practise in former days. Lynda, Rochelle and I were touring the old Anglican Church in Williamsburg, Virginia, an old building where George Washington had worshipped, where Patrick Henry had sat, and where the patriots of the American Revolution had drawn strength for their defiance of King George.
I confess that I am intrigued by old churches; each is an invitation to detour out of my way, even for considerable distances just to view them. A spire reaching up to the sky above the surrounding residences is an invitation to drive out of my way to see the building and to muse about what once was and what might yet be. Therefore, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to tour this old church building.
What especially attracted my attention in this instance, however, was the cemetery. I could not resist trying to read the inscriptions on the tombstones. Many were so worn that the wording was virtually impossible to read, but I found it worth the effort when I had finally deciphered the eroded words carved in the stone. Each spoke of faith in the resurrection, faith in the mercies of God, faith in the righteousness of the Saviour – something which seems gauche in this modern day of exalted human reason.
As I viewed the memorials and read the words of faith, my mind engaged in a reverie. Frequently, as I preach funeral services, I make mention of the fact that we each build memorials during our lifetimes – memorials made not of stone or wood, but vital memorials composed of memories and of influence. These memorials will fade quickly in the earthly scheme of things; but they will have eternal impact as they either bless or curse. What sort of memorials was I erecting? What impact would my life have? What changes, either for good or for evil would my presence in this life make? Any memorials of stone or steel, or wood or plastic, would be all too soon corroded and ignored.
My thoughts turn now to this church. What will it matter that a congregation once worshipped here? Will it matter that a people once believed God? That a people once met here on a regular basis? That the Gospel was once proclaimed from this pulpit? The church building is a memorial to the faith of men and women, many of whom are now passed from this life. Under the best of conditions this building is destined for dust. It will continue to crumble and decay, and all the efforts will not halt the effects of time on this building. A day will come when this memorial will no longer stand.
What, then, will last? What will continue to speak to a coming generation of the Faith we profess? What will matter in a hundred years? In fifty years? In twenty years? In another year? What will continue as a blessing to people yet to come? That is the question which Joshua encountered as the people of Israel crossed over the Jordan and into the land God had long promised. The account of the erection of a simple memorial is worthy of our careful study, so that together we may discover what really matters.
Erecting Memorials that Last (verses 1-3) – When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan from right where the priests stood and to carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.” Refresh your memory concerning what had occurred before the incident recorded in our text. The people of Israel were poised on the boundary of the Promised Land. Long years wandering in the wilderness would soon find justification as they actually took possession of that which God had promised. The land had been spied out and the first city, Jericho, was marked for destruction.
God now commanded the people to approach the last barrier to fulfilment of His promise of a home for His people. He said He would sweep back the waters of that raging river, then in full flood, permitting His people to cross over dry-shod into the land they were to receive as their inheritance. The priests, carrying the Ark of the Covenant, trod steadily toward the flood; no civic leader was with them. The people, following at a distance of nearly a kilometre, watched the priests bearing the symbol of God’s presence. They saw the priests of God move steadily toward … destruction or deliverance.
Nearer, nearer, ever nearer the swirling waters marched the priests carrying the ark. What must have raced through their minds? Perhaps they were remembering how Moses had parted the Red Sea. Then, God had commanded Moses to lift his hand out over the sea, and the sea had parted to either side permitting the people to pass through. There had been no demand that any of the people exercise faith to see God work His will. The command was different now; there would be no dramatic action by one individual, no words spoken by one man, no solitary stance to steady the watching people. This time there would be the only the steady stamp of the feet of the priests muffled by the roar of the raging river. They dared not falter as together they bore the load of the ark. Each step carried them nearer to … fulfilment or failure. It was only as the feet of the lead priests actually touched the water that any change in the waters was witnessed. As soon as the feet of the priests who carried the ark touched the water’s edge, faith was fulfilled. The water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away … while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off [Joshua 3:15,16].
God demonstrated that He was not constrained to work by one method only. God encouraged His people to walk by faith and not by sight, teaching the people that what was important was that He was with them. God was glorified in the revelation of His power and might. He ruled over nature; and He ruled for the welfare of His own people. No one who witnessed this mighty intervention could ever again casually ignore God’s command; but how would their children and their children after them view God?
As the nation passed through the stream bed, stepping gingerly over and around the dry rocks, the priests stood in the midst of the dry river, the ark of the Lord God borne patiently on their shoulders all the while. The people, hundreds of thousands in number, quickly passed across and into the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; all the while the priests stood in full view in the middle of the dry bed awaiting the order to again move. When the last Israelite had crossed over, the Lord commanded Joshua to care for one last detail before he called the priests out and onto the banks with the rest of the nation. Joshua was instructed to select twelve men, one from each tribe, commanding them to return to the dry waterway where they were to retrieve twelve stones from the spot where the priests were standing. These stones, each sufficiently large that one man could carry but one on his shoulder [verse 5] were to be arranged on the bank of the river so that in days to come anyone passing that way would see the rude monument.
Twelve river rocks on the bank would last a long time. This would be a memorial which would endure; but it was not a permanent memorial. The most lasting memorial was also the most fragile memorial – the faithfulness of the people of God to reach the next generation. Where did Israel cross the Jordan? Where are the twelve stones today? No one can find the precise spot where Israel crossed over the Jordan. No one can point out twelve stones to identify them as the stones fetched up out of the Jordan River when Israel crossed over the flooded river and into the Promised Land. The memorial which was to last for generations to come is lost to this generation; and in light of the paucity of information concerning this memorial throughout the remainder of the Word we might well conclude that it was forgotten soon after the event.
When we place our hope in the materials of this world to remind generations to come of what we have witnessed we will be disappointed. Nothing of this world shall long endure. Those are strong words, arresting words, which Peter penned so long ago: the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire [2 Peter 3:7]. On that day, He declares that the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be utterly exposed [2 Peter 3:10]. Just as my treasures in this life are uncertain, subject to moth and rust and thievery [see Matthew 6:19], so the memorials I erect are subject to decay and destruction.
I encourage the exploration of gifts, and in a former church was a young man struggled to determine whether God might have called him to preach the Word. He tested the call by delivering a message before the congregation one Sunday evening. The message confirmed that he was not called to the pulpit ministry, but it did reveal his considerable insight into the Word. I don’t remember the particulars of his effort at exposition that evening, but I do recall the title and the thrust of the message he gave. He titled his effort: It’s All Gonna’ Burn. He went ahead to caution against placing trust in the goods of this life and against becoming too enamoured of the accoutrements of this world since they were impermanent. He spoke the truth in that observation.
God gives no command to build a church building, no command to erect a cross or a spire? Instead, the churches of our Lord are commanded to memorialise His grace through observing living memorials received as the ordinances of the Faith – Baptism and Communion. We are commanded to memorialise His Word through uniting in worship as communities of the Faith. The congregations where Christ is worshipped, the observance of His ordinances, these are the living memorials which persist to this day and which insure that Christ is remembered and that the Faith is perpetuated.
The only memorials we shall leave behind when this life is finished are lives transformed through redemption by the blood of Christ. We prepare this living memorial and insure its continuation as we worship and as we witness to the grace of God and as we endeavour to win the lost. As we worship in spirit and in truth and as we speak of Him who loved us and gave Himself for us, we are building a living memorial. As we witness in the power of the Risen Christ we see lives transformed, men and women redeemed from the power of the enemy and made alive. If we will succeed in this task, our building must be filled with those to whom we long to pass on this knowledge.
Reasons for Erecting Memorials (verses 4-7) – So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”
Let the words of our text sink in for a moment. There are only two valid reasons for erecting a memorial: to remind those who observed an event of the significance of what they witnessed; and to instruct generations yet future of the significance of an event. A memorial has force only so long as the reason for the memorial is actively recalled. The Arc d’Triomphe towering above the Champs d’Elysseé is a Paris landmark; but few people today, save possibly a few historians, remember why it was erected. The reason behind Lord Nelson’s monument in Trafalgar Square is scarcely remembered today. Only so long as memory lives will a memorial have meaning to succeeding generations.
Those who witness God’s power and grace are obligated to keep that memory fresh. They are responsible to speak with verve and vigour of His might and glory. Such testimony requires constant refreshing, either through repeatedly witnessing the display of His magnificence, or through the refreshing the memory. Memory, like leftovers in the fridge, grows stale if not revisited and renewed from time-to-time. A memorial serves to renew the memory and to inspirit any recitation of what God has done. The Memorial Supper should serve to excite our memories of the love of Christ, though few of us are moved to tears when we observe that meal. The identification with Christ in believer’s baptism should be a time of high excitement, though I cannot recall when I last heard a people shout for joy while witnessing that burial with Him that the one baptised might also testify to being raised with Him. The memorials of the church should be the stuff of high drama and most intense joy. They are reminders to those witnessing these events that something of greatest significance has transpired between themselves and God.
I also find it interesting to note the way God stressed that certain memorials were to be erected, or how particular memorial rites were to be observed with the apparent purpose of instructing the children of His people. One example is the Passover Meal, which while a rite of worship, appears primarily to be a rite of instruction for children. Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. And when your children ask you, “What does this ceremony mean to you?” then tell them, “It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.'“ Then the people bowed down and worshipped [Exodus 12:24-27]. Generations to come were expected to query why the worship was conducted. The conduct of the worship was designed by God to elicit questions from the children.
Note how frequently God stressed the obligation to teach future generations concerning the Faith. Be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. [Deuteronomy 4:9,10]. Children were to be taught the truths witnessed by the generation which had observed God’s mighty revelation of His power.
These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you.
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates [Deuteronomy 6:1-9]. The commands God gave to His people, the love which lay behind them and the grace which was displayed in them, were to be impressed upon the children – talked about at every opportunity, symbolised openly, and written in plain view so that interest would be generated.
Love the LORD your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always. Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the LORD your God: his majesty, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm; the signs he performed and the things he did in the heart of Egypt, both to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his whole country; what he did to the Egyptian army, to its horses and chariots, how he overwhelmed them with the waters of the Red Sea as they were pursuing you, and how the LORD brought lasting ruin on them. It was not your children who saw what he did for you in the desert until you arrived at this place, and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened its mouth right in the middle of all Israel and swallowed them up with their households, their tents and every living thing that belonged to them. But it was your own eyes that saw all these great things the LORD has done [Deuteronomy 11:1-7]. Again, the disciplines of the Lord were to be recounted so that the children would hear and be enticed to discover for themselves the might and power of the Lord.
Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the lord's anger will burn against you, and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the LORD is giving you. Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth [Deuteronomy 11:16-21].
When Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, he said to them, "Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law [Deuteronomy 32:45,46].
In each instance cited, the instruction was to guard future generations against being led astray. In each instance, the teaching is that of a parent eliciting the natural curiosity of a child and seizing the opportunity to explain the significance of the action. In each instance the children are observers and not simply expected to wait until attaining adulthood to decide for themselves to serve God. Children are to be moulded, shaped and formed through active intervention as they develop. In the same way, the traditions of the church are to serve as attractions to those observing so that they will want to inquire of the meaning, and thus be induced to test for themselves the verities of the Faith.
The Impact of Memorials (verses 8,9) – So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the LORD had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant had stood. And they are there to this day. The church is always one generation from extinction. Failure to reach the next generation with the truths of the Word will insure our demise as a factor in confronting mankind with the Faith of Jesus Christ. Simultaneously, we are responsible to penetrate our own generation, winning as many as possible to Christ and instructing them in the Faith. History is littered with the corpses of churches which forgot this truth.
I confess a deep concern for generations following. Tom Mei, a fellow elder and Team Pastor to a sister congregation, is a student of the Chinese experience in Canada. Brother Tom states that over ninety-five percent (95%) of Chinese youth now attending churches in Canada are lost to the Faith by the time they enter adulthood. While shocking, I suspect that the figures are not greatly different for other identifiable racial or cultural groups within our nation.
In a former church I recall children approaching me to tell me that they had trusted Christ, or of learning that they had spoken with a Sunday School teacher concerning their desire to confess Christ. In almost every instance the parents of those children seemed unconcerned, even unaware of the dangers their children faced. They sought a solemn worship experience for themselves and committed their children to others in charge of the children’s worship. They did not think it important to train their children in the act of worship, in the act of participating in approaching the Lord.
Those children are all in their late teens now, and it is a matter of gravest concern for those parents that their children are so susceptible to the allure of this dying world. Some yet pursue Christ despite the lack of evident concern formerly displayed by their parents. Others, however, the majority in fact, are breaking the hearts of their parents as they walk in the world’s way and desert their parent’s Faith. Church is boring, uncool, and they want something to entertain them. They have never experienced the presence of the Living God for themselves; there was no memorial lived out before their eyes.
Parents, involve your children in the life of the Body to stimulate their questions. Your friends who hold themselves aloof from the worship of the Living God must be invited to observe the worship of God so that they will be motivated to ask the right questions. In this way, we erect memorials. Passing through the waters of our collective experience as a congregation, gather up some stones from the depths through which we pass and leave them on the banks so that others will ask what they mean in years to come.
I am concerned for those of our own generation who have yet to be confronted by the love of Christ. There is an enigmatic statement in Paul’s letter to the churches of Galatia. In Galatians 3:1 he exploded in apparent exasperation: You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. It is that latter statement which I call to your careful attention: Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.
When was Christ clearly portrayed as crucified to these Galatians? When Paul baptised the converts won to the Faith during his first missionary journey, those witnessing that good confession saw Christ baptised. This is the Word of the Lord. Listen to Romans 6:1-10. What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin -- because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
In witnessing believers as they identified with Christ through their baptisms, the Galatians witnessed Christ’s death, burial and resurrection and the significance of that sacrifice for those who believed. The ordinance of baptism is a preaching of the Gospel. This is the reason that we baptise those of sufficient age to recognise what they are doing. This is the reason we invite those who know Christ to quickly identify with Him through public confession, through baptism. Bring your children, bring your lost friends, to witness the Faith when we baptise the new convert to Christ. Bring your children, bring your lost friends, to witness our confession of the Faith when we partake of the Lord’s Supper, for in the Supper there is a portrayal of Christ’s love – His broken body and His shed blood. These elements speak eloquently when they are presented as He intended.
There is another memorial resident within the church … a memorial not identified as a memorial, but which is a memorial none the less. Doctor Luke makes clear those features which characterised the early church and which were evident: Those who accepted his message were baptised, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer [Acts 2:41,42].
Did you notice what is stated of the ordinances? The first ordinance for those who believe is baptism, which identifies them with Christ and leads to membership within the church. Those who have been baptised are invited to participate in the breaking of bread. Associated with and contingent upon that continuing ordinance of the churches is devotion to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship … and to prayer. Participating in the life of the Body is a continuing memorial to the presence of Christ’s Spirit; fellowshipping within the Body of Christ is a constant memorial to the effective working of God’s Spirit within His people. One observation should give each believer pause. Never has the church witnessed an individual who refused to participate in the life of the Body who made a lasting impact upon either the lost or the faithful. Those who make an impact for good and for God are those who make a commitment to the Body of Christ.
Why should the lost heed the message of one who disparages the labours of the faithful? Why would the saints long follow one who denigrates the assembly of Christ? Those who fail to commit themselves to the people of God are denigrating the faithful. Those who refuse to live a life of open commitment to the assembly of Christ disparage the labours of God’s holy people. It is in the faithful adherence to the teaching of the apostles’, in the fellowship of believers, and in the prayers of the saints that outsiders most frequently witness the presence and the power of Christ.
Through our lives, and more particularly through our communal life as a Body, we are erecting a living memorial. As we meet and as we minister as a people we remind one another of what God has done for us. We encourage one another and build one another in the Faith. As we observe the commands He gave us to love one another deeply from the heart we live out the life of Christ before a watching world which has grown more confused with the passage of years. That world is dying to witness one church which dares lives out the life of Christ before their wondering eyes. Will that church be ours? Will we leave a memorial for the generations to come?
I encourage each one among us to take seriously the stated memorials Christ has entrusted to us – the ordinances of Baptism and the Communion Meal. Then I urge us to see our life as a congregation as a living memorial of the presence of God’s Spirit and as a living memorial to the love of God among us. If you are a fellow saint but have hesitated to openly confess your faith as Christ commanded, beginning with baptism, we invite you to make the good confession, standing with Him in open obedience to His command. If you are one who has held back from confessing Christ through the Communion Meal, let this be the day in which you remove every barrier to confessing your unity with Christ and His people. Let this be the day in which you confess your hope in His promised return. Let this be the day in which you renew the memory of His loving sacrifice for you. For each of us, let this be the day in which we confess our Faith in Him and our love for his people.